We Tories must not let Europe tear us apart

MPs and ministers should be free to campaign on the EU referendum as they
choose, so we can all work better together afterwards

Graham Brady: 'MPs and ministers should be just as free to campaign as conscience dictates'Photo: Telegraph

By Graham Brady MP, chairman of the 1922 committee

8:00AM BST 04 Oct 2015

Reasons to be cheerful. One. Two. Three. As Conservatives assemble for our conference in Manchester, we have cause for celebration. For the first time in nearly 20 years, only Tory ministers are seated around the Cabinet table, attendance by party members is up by 30 per cent on last year – and we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t allow ourselves at least a little satisfaction at the sight of our Labour opponents fighting like rats in a sack.

We should, however, be careful. There may not be much that we can learn from Jeremy Corbyn but his determination to strike a different tone, to find a less abrasive, less confrontational approach to politics strikes a chord with many.

In the bygone age of mass meetings and old-fashioned rhetoric, the more passionate the speech, the more theatrical the presentation, the more the speaker seemed to believe what he was saying.

In the media age, it is the softly spoken word that communicates reason and sincerity. As we emerge from the trauma of the financial crisis, the public mood is serious and reflective. People don’t trust anyone to have all the answers and they do want a proper debate as we chart a course ahead.

We will be judged this week – and in the years ahead – as much on the way we conduct our debates as on the conclusions we reach.

Millions of British people are weighing up a decision that may shape our future for generations

This has never been more obvious than in the months leading up to the momentous decision about the nature of Britain’s relationship with Europe. With a referendum set to take place before the end of 2017, it seems inevitable that the EU itself will be in turmoil while we decide.

Whether Grexit has been averted or just deferred we cannot yet know. But the need for a further massive integration of the eurozone to control the finances of member states has been laid bare.

Meanwhile, before one crisis was over, the challenge of mass migration has ended all the old certainties for those who championed a Europe without borders. A year ago, Angela Merkel could dismiss British demands for controlled migration as being contrary to the founding principles of the EU. Today she is facing similar calls from her own party.

Against this shifting backdrop, millions of British people are weighing up a decision that may shape our future for generations. The vast majority of us want a relationship with the EU that is centred on trade and cooperation – not the creeping political integration that sucks the life out of national democracy.

When I speak to audiences ranging from sixth-formers to septuagenarians, I detect a seriousness and an engagement that has become all too rare as people have grown sick of the politics of polish and spin.

Polls suggest (and we know how wrong they can be!) that opinion is more or less evenly divided. People are listening to arguments from both sides and it feels to me like the public want to do justice to the importance of the choice.

It would be a pity if politicians failed to rise to the standard being set by the electorate. This will require a new style of politics and a real effort to respect the honestly-held views of others. The Conservative Party cares deeply about the issues at stake: democracy and national sovereignty are at the centre of our beliefs. It is unsurprising that European policy has caused rancour and division in the past, but now that a popular vote will decide, we have a real opportunity to do things differently.

Conservative MPs and ministers should be just as free to campaign as conscience dictates

Quietly and without fuss, we are off to an encouraging start. The decision taken recently by the Prime Minister and the board of the Conservative Party, that the party itself will remain neutral in the referendum campaign, has to be the right decision. To use the donations of members, the staff at campaign headquarters, or the data collected by thousands of volunteers to campaign on one side or the other would have caused bitter recriminations.

Deciding that the party machine will stand aloof is a vital sign of the determination to respect both views and should be welcomed.

The same approach should run through everything that we do as we approach the referendum. I know one MP friend, determined to campaign to leave, who has a pact with his association chairman, equally determined to stay, that they will go out canvassing together; one for each side – a public demonstration of their unity of purpose in the Conservative cause when the battle is over.

Once the referendum campaign begins, Conservative MPs and ministers should be just as free to campaign as conscience dictates. The European debate matters deeply to us all, but when it is over, there will still be work to be done and the Conservative Party will serve the country best if we can shake hands and focus again on the things that bind us together.

Graham Brady is the Tory MP for Altrincham and Sale West and the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee